I'm doing the exact opposite of this nowadays. I'd rather buy a game with a higher price than hoard all indie games and others just because they're cheap. This way I'm no longer losing interest in the stuff I buy and/or want to play, and surprisingly, it also saves me some money. Just a thing to consider.
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Inversely, if I really like an indie game I usually make sure to purchase at least one copy before it possibly becomes bundled and encourage all of my friends to to the same. I believe a lot of indie devs sell themselves short by going the bundle route too soon. Those who truly care about the games (and the industry as a whole) will continue to support worthy developers and not "wait with crossed fingers for a bundle."
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Split across a team, that's not exactly lucrative. It's a good start.
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It isn't but it's way more than they would earn selling it at that time via normal means of distribution, according to their own data. Because we're talking about the game appearing in a bundle and revenue generated from that opposed to the 'normal' sales figures, right?
Maybe I read incorrectly coezo's thesis but to me it isn't 'developers get truckloads of money via bundles'. Original doctor's post included sentence 'I believe a lot of indie devs sell themselves short by going the bundle route too soon.' so my guess coezo's point was 'the revenue from bundles isn't that insignificant to them [devs] as you think'.
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You got it right! The thing is it's worth to put games up on "pay what you want" bundles. Even big companies did that, like EA and WB.
I've talked to a WadjetEye Games dude (Gemini Rue, Blackwell series etc) before Gemini Rue went up in that HB, and he said what he wanted the most was to get their games on HB. There must be a big line of devs waiting for their chance. It's a really good business model, where the devs make good money, people get lots of good games for cheap and there's still room for charity! It's not by chance that lots of similar projects came up after HB appeared.
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Well, it IS lucrative. Games (software) aren't tangible, they don't "end", they don't waste (unless it's a crappy game :P, or it's outdated, kinda, but you get what I mean), they're not finite. You can sell 2 copies or 1 million copies and you don't have to spend anymore resources than you already did (unless it's a boxed version or something, not the context here).
Honestly, it's pretty silly to say you won't buy any indie game anymore because they'll eventually go into a bundle. Of course, every game will always go into sale somewhere eventually, and drop price over time. If you want to play something NOW, you have to buy it now. If you're willing to wait years for a sale or price drop, or bundle, that's fine. On the console market, some people will also not buy a game at full price when it's released, and wait to get an used copy. It's an option (at least today).
Many people here collect games. Many people here have actually played less than half of their Steam library. Sometimes they only buy bundle because it's cheap. It's not like they would buy it otherwise (or would buy a select one or two games). It's like that argument the industry uses (couldn't find a source, maybe I'm wrong in this one) that every pirated game copy is an unsold copy.
Finally, many people get to know the game and/or company by seeing them on bundles. In some cases, you'll get one game of the series, but not the other (Amnesia, for example) or you'll get the base games, but not the DLCs (Magicka, for example, bundled a million times!), encouraging you to buy the rest.
It's not the only way to sell, but it's a really good way to sell.
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Besides the Dust Force article shown by Mindestens, there's the Humble Bundle data. As far as I know, the specific share is not available to the public, but you can have an idea looking at the total payments and purchase # for each bundle. So, yes, I think! :) You can play around with the numbers, and maybe you can have a lot of variation, but that gives you an idea. Even if it's just 1 dollar per purchase for each developer (which is very unrealistic, considering the averages).
EDIT: I know I only talked about Humble Bundle, and it's the biggest bundle site out there, but you usually see pretty good sales numbers on other bundle sites as well.
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Even single games can make astounding profit through a pay-what-you-want model: http://2dboy.com/2009/10/19/birthday-sale-results/ and http://2dboy.com/2009/10/26/pay-what-you-want-birthday-sale-wrap-up/
And this was years before the popularity of the Humble Bundle
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I try to buy the truly good ones before they're bundled, and then pick up whatever bundle they end up in to gift them to cheap friends.
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yeah, me too. As soon as i see indie in shop i dont buy it.
Also my backlist is big and NO game, can be as good as i want to absolutely play this. (Okay, except GTA 5 *gg)
Edit: Game Dev Tycoon is absolutely worth the money, its a hell of fun.
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if everyone thinks like this - there will be not very much indie games in the future...
if you think so, you should never buy any game (specially AAA games) which is newer than 3-4 years... games are allways way cheaper than... why buy a game for 40€ if you can get it for 2,50€ at steamsale 4 years later...
i think, indie devs should be rewarded for there work and Inspiration... without them we would be reduced to Play 2-3 different games which are sold under 10-20 different names but are the same games after all...
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your last paragraph: that's a very pessimistic view
and let's not forget that there are a lot of great freeware titles =)
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If it took 4 years for the games to appear in Bundles then i am fine with it. As you well know that is not the case so the analogy doesn't apply ;)
We kind of have that situation with indie games now. You may get games from all different indie developers but lets face it you are either going to get a rogue like, retro rpg or "exploration" "interactive" type game.
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Well I can't get bundles xD So I can't say I do that :P
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Just saying the behavior the OP is implying he does would not occur in my current situation due to the fact I am unable to purchase bundles.
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Not all of them have evil bundle destiny, but a lot of them yes, and it's kinda risky buying them even on sales, to realize they went bundle the next day or soon. But games like Starbound, DayZ, Terraria, etc, if someday they go bundle you will have to wait some years for it, so better buy them on sales.
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That's not the Lobo we've come to love and trust. I feel cheated.
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I'm sorry ;~;
But remember, the true Lobo will always be with you!
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I'm certain some people only have low-spec PCs, that can only handle indie games. In many 3rd world countries, having a PC is a luxury. Not a necessity. Any PC will do. You know AAA games' PC requirements are usually notoriously high, and the games themselves are prohibitively expensive.
I would buy a great indie game, even though everyone else is buying it below the Steam market rate at other websites. During sales, Steam will make up for it.
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Definitely agree. I've cut back my purchases by miles. I refuse to buy indie games even at 75% off since they'll be, mostly, bundled eventually.
Some games will never be bundled, despite being indie though.
But for example, I would never Game Dev Tycoon, because I've beaten it and I saw it as Humble material (like your example).
Or I won't be buying Super Splatters, for another example.
I have bunch of games as my backlog if I ever get bored, though, so it's not like I need to expand my library further by buying indies.
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Also happend with Natural Selection II... huge discount on Steam and next day it was bundled. bundle victims ^^
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Yup. I'm with you.
I'm all for supporting devs, but this is why I buy bundles and don't pirate.
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I have started thinking like that too. At first you think support the dev, the game looks cool and i will get it. Then a week later its in a bundle and the person who was deciding to support the dev feels screwed over those who just buy the bundles. Usually without enough time to even start playing the game you bought. With so much of a backlog on Steam aswell, its bundles all year this year for me :)
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I agree with you. A lot of games end up in a bundle even after 1,2 months after release.
So I changed my purchase rule to only buy games I will be playing right away or those I can risk the regret.
I won't regret buying Game Dev Tycoon since I already enjoyed every penny I paid for it.
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Sound Logic.
I do the same. There was alot of tempting 80-90% off deals recently.. avoided them all and now they are showing up in Bundles. I don't think Im a genius for noticing it. But I think Im awesome for resisting the urge to buy them.
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Don't forget the EA and THQ-Bundle, so let's only buy bundles from now on! YEAAAHHHH! FLAWLESS!
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Everything will be cheaper if you wait. That goes for Indie and AAA releases (the only exception is ActiBlizz stuff).... So why would you be more prepared to wait for Indie titles than AAA ones?
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Indie jump into bundles at $1 faster than AAA will become $1 :)
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I was thinking more along the lines of AAA becoming sub15 or so and for that all you need is a digital store sale...
And not all Indies make it to a $5 bundle (let's be nicer to the charities here + BTA requirement) that fast either...only the ones people don't actually want...the low quality crappy ones that sit in their Steam list mostly unplayed forever ...or that get given away here. At least that's how I feel about most bundles.
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Monaco, Fez, Hotline Miami etc lots of games going in bundles that people want. AAA games now getting included too (Arkham Asylum & City, Scribblenauts, Dead Space 3 etc). Just got the Arma 2 Collection thinking that was safe then a few weeks later without it even being installed pops up in a bundle.
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Blizzard has big sales around Black Friday. Diablo 3 was $25 and I picked up Starcraft 2 for $15.
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I try to avoid buying indie games because I believe they will eventually be bundled thus I could get them cheaper + included with other games.
You can kind of tell which games will end up in a bundle, especially with Humble Bundle
For example, I didn't purchase "Game Dev Tycoon" because it will most likely end up in a Humble Bundle
Am I the only one that thinks like this?
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